Our Fair Trading Agreement and holiday information sets out clearly and simply the responsibilities which SWANTOURS have to you and which you in turn have to us when a contract is made between us. The contract is made when you make a booking and we accept it by written confirmation on the terms set out in this document.

When signing the Booking Form for your holiday you will sign on behalf of yourself, and the others named in your party, that you have read, understood and have accepted this Fair Trading Agreement and the Holiday Information provided in this brochure. Your obligation is to pay the price of the holiday and recognise your liabilities if you wish to alter the holiday or have to make a cancellation. On our part we have obligations to provide you with the holiday you have booked. Our specification of that holiday and our terms are clearly stated in this brochure. Your contract is entered into with SWANTOURS. Any other subsidiary companies of SWANTOURS involved in the booking or management of your holiday shall be deemed to act as our agents. This Fair Trading Agreement applies to all holidays sold from SWANTOURS.

1. You pay a deposit

When you make your booking you must complete a booking form, accepting on behalf of all your party the terms of this Fair Trading Agreement, and pay a deposit of £50 per person on all coach holidays.

2. You pay the balance

The balance of the fare must be paid at least 6 weeks (8 weeks for Eire and Continental tours) before the holiday departure date. If you book within the applicable balance due period you must pay the full holiday cost at the time of booking. If the balance is not paid in time, we reserve the right to cancel your holiday, retain your deposit, and apply cancellation charges set out in Paragraph 4 "If you cancel your holiday".

3. If you change your booking

If, after our confirmation has been issued, you wish to change to another of our holidays or change departure date, we will do our utmost to make the changes, provided that written notification is received by us from the person who signed the booking form not later than the date which the balance of the original holiday cost was due for payment. This must be accompanied by a payment of £10 to cover administration costs. Any alteration by you made later than the original balance date will be treated as a cancellation of the original booking and will be subject to the cancellation charges set out below. Other alterations such as the addition of requests or change of pick-up point that require a reconfirmation to be issued must be notified and accompanied by a payment of £10 to cover administrative costs.

4. If you cancel your holiday

You, or any members of your party, may cancel your holiday at any time provided that the cancellation is made by the person signing the booking form and is received by us in writing. As this incurs administrative costs we will retain your deposit and in addition, apply cancellation charges as shown below:

Period before departure within which written cancellation is received	Amount of cancellation charge shown as % of holiday price
More than 42 days	The whole deposit
42-28 days	30% of the tour cost
27-14 days	45% of the tour cost
13-7 days	60% of the tour cost
6 days or less	100% of the tour cost
Departure date or after	100% of the tour cost

Note: If the reason for cancellation is covered under the terms of an insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.

5. If you have a complaint

If you have a complaint during your holiday, please inform our driver/courier, or representative who will do his/her utmost to resolve the problem immediately. If the matter cannot be resolved immediately, you must notify us in writing within 28 days of the completion of your holiday quoting your reference number, holiday number and departure date. Failure to establish your complaint immediately in accordance with the above procedure may affect the outcome.

6. Statutory authorities

This brochure is issued subject to applicable Acts of Parliament and Government Regulations and the company reserves the right to modify itineraries to conform with requests from the competent authorities in the United Kingdom and any other sovereign state through which the tours run.

7. Conditions of carriage

When you travel on a coach, aircraft, train or ship, the conditions of carriage of that carrier apply and are subject to National and International conditions which may limit or exclude liability. Your contract made under the terms of this Fair Trading Agreement is subject to English Law and jurisdiction. Some coach journeys are operated by vehicles other than those owned by SWANTOURS and the specification may be different to that detailed in this brochure. The Public Service Vehicle (Conduct of Drivers, Conductors and Passengers) Regulations as amended 1990, apply to all coaches throughout any holiday in the UK.

8. Other terms

On holiday you may not:

a) Bring a pet or any other animal (other than Registered Assistance dogs in the UK and Eire only, by arrangement).

b) Play a radio, cassette/mp3 player on the coach; use mobile phones unless in the case of extreme emergency on the coach; consume alcohol on the coach.

SWANTOURS reserves the unconditional right to refuse a booking or terminate a client's holiday arrangements in the event of unreasonable conduct which in SWANTOUR'S opinion is likely to cause damage, distress, danger or annoyance to other clients, employees, property or to any third party. If you are prevented from travelling or continuing your holiday by such a termination SWANTOURS responsibility for your holiday thereupon ceases.

Full cancellation charges will apply and SWANTOURS will be under no obligation for any refund, compensation or loss which you may incur.

You are responsible for ensuring that you are at the correct departure point at the correct time, and we cannot be liable for any loss or expense suffered by passengers because of their late arrival at any departure point. Excursions are included in the price of most holidays and refunds cannot be made for passengers not wishing to go on these excursions. Admission fees to buildings, grounds etc. are not included in the price of the holiday unless otherwise stated in the brochure.

9. Passports

Identification (passport or photo driving licence) is advisable when travelling to Ireland. For all Continental holidays you will require a full 10 year British Passport. Some Continental countries have been known to refuse entry to a person if their passport expires within 3 months of the date of entry into that country. If your passport is due for renewal shortly, it is advised to renew it early, to ensure that you have at least 3 months unexpired portion remaining at date of travel.

If you have any doubts about your status as a resident British subject or you do not hold a full British Passport, you must check with the Embassies or Consulates of the countries to be visited to confirm the passport or visa requirements needed in your particular circumstances. We cannot accept responsibility if passengers are not in possession of the correct travel documents.

10. Health

Under normal circumstances most Western European Countries do not require visitors to be vaccinated. However, we will indicate any known vaccination or other health requirements where possible for each country to be visited.

If you are not sure of the health requirements of the country you are visiting, you are advised to check with your own doctor before travelling.

11. Clients with disabilities

Many of the hotels we use have excellent facilities for clients with wheelchairs. However, please make sure you inform us of the extent of your dependence upon the wheelchair at the time of booking, so we can advise on the suitability of your chosen tour, and ensure that a taxi of sufficient size is sent to pick you up from your home address (where applicable).

12. Special requirements

If you prefer a 'low floor room', a special diet, or perhaps a walk-in shower, we will happily discuss this with the hotel, but we can't guarantee that they will meet your request. Therefore, if your request is a condition of booking, you must let us know at the time of your initial enquiry, and we can then approach the hotel at that time to ensure your request will be met. In respect of requests for a 'low floor room', hotels tend not to attach too great importance to these if they have a lift; if therefore your requests for such a room are for a reason other than finding stairs difficult, i.e. a dislike of heights, please advise at the time of booking.

13. Credit card payments

We impose no additional fee when you pay your deposit by credit card, however, balance payment by credit card is subject to a 2% surcharge. Maestro and debit cards carry no surcharge.

14. International Passenger Protection

In accordance with "The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations1992" all passengers booking with SwanTours are fully protected for the initial deposit and subsequently the balance of all monies paid to us, including repatriation if required, arising from cancellation or curtailment of your travel arrangements due to the insolvency of SwanTours

There is no requirement for Financial Protection of day trips, and none is provided.

Consumer aware: Your booking is insured by IPP Ltd and its panel of insurers. - This insurance is only valid for passengers who book and pay directly with/to SwanTours. If you have booked and/ or paid direct to a Travel Agent for a holiday with SwanTours please request proof of how the booking is secured as this will not be covered by IPP Ltd in this instance.

This Insurance has been arranged by International Passenger Protection Limited and underwritten by Insurers who are members of the Association of British Insurers & Lloyds Syndicates.

1. We reserve your holiday

When you have ascertained that we have available space on the holiday of your choice, and sent us the appropriate deposit a confirmation/invoice will be forwarded to you normally within 14 days of receipt of your signed booking form and the contract is made between us when we issue you this confirmation.

2. Your holiday price

Holiday prices include all coach travel, hotel accommodation, meals, excursions and entrance fees (where indicated) as specified in the holiday description including VAT at the current rate where applicable.

Morning coffee, afternoon tea and other refreshments are not included (other than complimentary on board coach drinks where indicated). Some hotels may make a small additional charge for tea or coffee served after lunch and dinner. Gratuities to the hotel staff and driver/couriers are discretionary. The price of your holiday is subject to surcharges on the following items: Governmental action, VAT, currency, aircraft fuel, overflying charges, airport charges and increases in scheduled air fares. Even in this case, we will absorb an amount equivalent to 2% of the holiday price which excludes insurance premiums and any amendment charges. Only amounts in excess of this 2% will be surcharged but where a surcharge is payable there will be an administration charge of 50p per person. If this means paying more than 10% on the holiday price, you will be entitled to cancel your holiday with a full refund of all money paid except for any premium paid to us for holiday insurance and amendment charges. Should you decide to cancel because of this, you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days from the issue date printed on the invoice. Surcharges will not be imposed within 30 days of departure.

3. If we change your holiday

The arrangements for holidays in our brochures are made many months in advance and changes are sometimes unavoidable. Most of these changes may be very minor but where they are significant we will notify you as soon as is reasonably possible before your departure date. A significant change would be regarded as changes in the departure date, departure point, or resort area, reducing the quality of your main hotel (not single overnight hotels on touring holidays) or a change of tour itinerary which involves a destination being completely eliminated from the revised itinerary or reducing the specification of the coach.

In the event of a significant change you may decide to:

a) Continue with the holiday as amended or

b) Accept an alternative holiday which we may offer to you or

c) Cancel your booking

4. If we cancel your holiday

All the tours in this brochure are offered subject to our obtaining sufficient bookings for each departure. If this is not the case, we will usually advise you some months before the tour departs, giving you the option to book an alternative tour or date. However, we reserve the right to withdraw any tour up to four weeks before departure for tours of six days or more, and two weeks before departure for tours of fewer than six days.

In all cases, we will offer you an alternative tour or a full refund. In the case of "force majeure" we reserve the right to cancel at any time, giving you a 100% refund or credit note. We regret we are unable to consider claims for interest on monies which have been held by us.

5. What happens to complaints?

All complaints that are received are thoroughly investigated and customers are kept informed at each stage of the investigation. Sometimes the investigations can take time when awaiting a response from hoteliers. We can normally agree an amicable settlement of the few serious complaints we receive, if the complaint is found to be genuine.

6. Our responsibility to you

We accept responsibility for ensuring that all component parts of your holiday as described in this brochure are supplied to you at a reasonable standard and this includes optional excursions purchased through our employees or agents.

i) Please remember that some amenities (e.g. hotel lifts, swimming pools etc.) require servicing and cleaning and may not therefore be available at all times. Some services may be affected by weather conditions and their availability is entirely at the discretion of the provider of the service. Entertainment (particularly live entertainment) provided by hotels is frequently subject to demand and its nature and/or frequency may be varied if there is lack of demand or insufficient numbers staying in the hotel.

ii) Some excursion itineraries include the use of ferries and other forms of transport which can be affected by inclement weather, and may have to be cancelled or arrangements changed. Whenever possible a suitable alternative excursion will be offered.

A little more information about twin and double rooms

Twin rooms (one room containing two single beds) are increasingly common at hotels, and if you book a double room (one room with one large bed), you might occasionally be allocated a twin. At hotels abroad, a twin room can sometimes contain what appears to be a double bed, but is in fact a double bed base and headboard with separate mattresses and bedding. This is known as a 'continental twin'.

What does 'a room with private facilities' mean?

This means the room will have an en suite shower and toilet, bath and toilet, or bath, shower and toilet. If you have a strong preference for a bath or shower, please advise us before making your booking.

Single Supplements / Single Occupancy

The demand for single rooms continues to increase substantially year on year, and hotels find it increasingly difficult to meet this demand. It is probably true to say that we could fill every tour with just singles, such is the demand!

This situation brings problems of its own; hotels are becoming very reluctant to allocate a large number of single rooms, particularly if the have to use doubles for sole occupancy. Lots of singles on a tour also restricts the maximum number we can carry, as most prefer window seats and are unwilling to accept gangway seats - leaving us with with unsold seats. In addition, large numbers of singles increase our home pickup and return costs dramatically.

In the past we have only passed on a small proportion (if any) of these costs to single travellers and have spread the cost across all travellers. However, with the increase in the number of singles, this subsidy results in an increasingly higher fare for everyone and to enable us to keep the basic cost of our tours to a competitive level, we have reluctantly had to introduce a single traveller supplement.

Please note that this supplement does not mean a single traveller will have a double room for sole occupancy; it is purely to meet the additional costs which SwanTours has to meet in respect of such bookings.